Disabled Chihuahua gets custom (toy) wheels

A Chihuahua in Indianapolis, Ind., who was born without two front legs, has gained mobility — thanks to resourceful vet clinic personnel who fashioned a wheeled substitute made of toy parts for the absent limbs.

Given the ironic name Turbo, the Chihuahua was turned over to the The Downtown Veterinarian when he was one month old after his owners discovered the pooch was being excluded from nursing by his four-legged siblings at feeding time.

“The couple was beside themselves,” Amy Burk, manager of TDV, tells Today. “I said, ‘I’m not euthanizing this puppy.’ Unless there had been another complication that affected his quality of life, like a cleft palate.”

The pooch needed assistance for the simplest actions, like drinking water from a bowl. Missing limbs aside, however, Turbo (who is nicknamed Roo for his kangaroo-like appearance) is a perfectly healthy canine.

Fitting disabled dogs for prosthetics is nothing unusual, but that typically happens when the animal is six months of age. So in the meantime, personnel fashioned the pooch a home-made scooter comprised of plastic toy parts from a Fisher-Price helicopter and a ferret harness.

“We need the cart so he can get support on his front end, so he can move around more naturally and use legs more naturally and his back,” Dr. Trish Wiggers tells Fox 59. “So, there is not stress put on all his other joints.”

When Turbo turns six months old, he’ll be fitted with a custom cart. He spends his nights with a member of the TDV staff, but may be put up for adoption. To keep up to date with the dog, Like the Turbo.Roo the 2 legged Chihuahua Facebook page.